since 2008
Head of the project group „Civic Engagement“; development and compiliation of reports such as „Bericht zur Lage und zu den Perspektiven des bürgerschaftlichen Engagements in Deutschland“ (Report on the Situation and Prospects of Civic Engagement in Germany)

since 1992
Research Fellow at the WZB. Participation in the international comparative study project of the Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, USA, German substudy on the nonprofit sector. Research and publications on the social situation in the German Democratic Republic (GDR) and social developments in eastern Germany.

1978 - 1991
Research Fellow at the Institute of Sociology and Social Policy at the Academy of Sciences of the GDR. Work areas: social indicators research, social statistics, sociology of information (survey methods, databases, official statistics). Doctoral thesis sc.: Methodologische und methodische Grundlagen soziologischer Informationsgewinnung (Methodical and methodological foundations of sociological information retrieval) (graduation 1988).

1974 - 1978
Research Assistant at the Chair of Methodology and Methods, Department of Sociology, Faculty of Economics, Humboldt University Berlin.
Lectures and seminars on the subject of methodology and methods (survey methods). Participation in the preparation and implementation of empirical surveys on the subject of lifestyle and working conditions.
Doctoral thesis: Methodologische und methodische Probleme der Indikatorengewinnung in der soziologischen Forschung (Methodological and methodical problems of retrieving indicators in sociological research) (graduation 1978).

1970 - 1974
Studies in economics and sociology at the Faculty of Economics at Humboldt University in Berlin. Graduation in economics and sociology in 1974.